Stanford Considers Metal Detectors at Parties

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, February 22, 1996

Stanford University may have to resort to metal detectors to keep outsiders from bringing weapons to campus dances and other social events, Stanford Police Chief Marvin Herrington said yesterday.

"I don't think they would be needed for every event, but it is one of the tools we may have to consider," said Herrington. "I know some schools already use them."

The university is seeking to tighten policies for large campus parties that draw outsiders, following a bizarre shooting incident this month at a sorority dance that drew 500 students from other Bay Area colleges.

Police also are investigating a second incident in which students from another college were involved in a criminal incident linked to a Stanford function.

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Four San Jose State University students were arrested Sunday morning after police said they kicked and beat an unidentified Stanford sophomore in a campus parking lot following a party at nearby Sigma Chi fraternity. Arrested were Justin Kinser, 22; Jason Hagberg, 19; abd Kristopher Carley and Christopher Steeb, both 24. They were booked into county jail on felony assault charges and released pending arraignment.

Police said the students are all members of the San Jose State chapter of Sigma Chi who had crashed the Stanford party. Leaders of the Stanford fraternity said later there were no reported incidents at the party, and they were unaware a beating had taken place until hours later.

Campus officials were inclined to agree. The post-fraternity party beating was "entirely different" from the sorority dance shooting, said Dean of Student Affairs Marc Wais.

Stanford police say a De Anza College student has admitted he brought a loaded .38- caliber handgun to the February 4 sorority dance, and that it accidentally fired, wounding him in the hand and a second student from another college in the leg. Firearms charges have been filed against Concepcion Scott, 19, of San Jose.

Herrington's views are expected to hold considerable weight in a review, ordered by Stanford Vice Provost Mary Edmonds, of university policies governing large-scale parties and what might be done to improve security.

In a brief statement released yesterday, Edmonds reminded student organizations who hold large parties that they are expected to "take all steps necessary" to ensure that weapons, drugs and alcohol are not brought in.

She also insisted that sponsoring groups require those attending such events to provide proper identification.

However, Edmonds did not specify how those measures should be implemented, apparently leaving that to a committee of students and administrators she is organizing to conduct the policy review.

Wais said Stanford has to be careful about controls at campus social events because a substantial number of young outsiders attend them. "We don't want to overreact," he said.